Short Summary

A GIGANTIC TANKER OF 131,000 TONS DEADWEIGHT, BIGGEST EVER TO BE BUILT, WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED ON JULY 10 AT THE FORMER NAVAL BASE OF SASEBO, ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF KYUSHU, THE JAPANESE ISLAND RECENTLY HIT BY SEVERE FLOODS.

Description

A GIGANTIC TANKER OF 131,000 TONS DEADWEIGHT, BIGGEST EVER TO BE BUILT, WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED ON JULY 10 AT THE FORMER NAVAL BASE OF SASEBO, ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF KYUSHU, THE JAPANESE ISLAND RECENTLY HIT BY SEVERE FLOODS.

THE LAUNCHING - BY SLOWLY FLOODING THE HUGE DRYDOCK WHERE THE GBP5 MILLION VESSEL HAD BEEN CONSTRUCTED - WAS ATTENDED BY A HOST OF GUESTS OF HONOUR, INCLUDING AMERICAN AMBASSADOR EDWIN REISCHAUER AND MISS SAZO IDEMITSU, WHO PERFORMED THE NAMING CEREMONY.

MISS SAZO IS THE DAUGHTER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE IDEMITSU KOKAN COMPANY, ONE OF JAPAN'S LARGEST OIL REFINING ENTERPRISES, WHO COMMISSIONED THE TANKER. IDEMITSU ARE ALREADY OPERATING TWO 107,000-TON TANKERS AND WILL TAKE THE NEW VESSEL INTO SERVICE NEXT OCTOBER.

WITH A LENGTH OF 955 FT. AND A WIDTH OF 141 FT., THE NEW SHIP - NAMED "NISSHO MARU" - IS TOO BIG TO PASS THROUGH THE SUEZ AND PANAMA CANALS. POWERED BY A SINGLE 28,000 HORSEPOWER TURBINE, SHE HAS A CRUISING SPEED OF 16 KNOTS AND WILL CARRY A FULL LOAD OF 125,000 TONS OF CRUDE OIL FROM KUWAIT TO TOKOYAMA ABOUT EIGHT TIMES A YEAR. BECAUSE OF HER 54 FT. DRAUGHT, SHE RELIES ON SUBMARINE PIPELINES FOR OFF-SHORE LOADING AND UNLOADING.